Holy
Fuck, what a page! It almost makes me nauseous to look at it. There was so much
picky detail on those hideous soldier uniforms that I inherited from “The
Mark”, volume one. And I hated drawing the utility belt on The Mark’s costume;
all that extra unnecessary detail (since he never put anything in or took
anything out of it for the entire duration of volume one or my run on the
character). Brrrr.
Anyway,
I’ll finish up my serialized essay on my dance with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by
mentioning that there is a definite emotional component. When I resent what I’m
called upon to do (like having to do a storyboard test to (try to) get a job,
I’m placing myself at risk for a relapse; when the project is fun I can work
for hours like there’s never been a problem. My personal interactions can also play
a part. I recall one incident in the summer of ’93 where I was employing an
assistant to help me on “The Mark”. He was working for me in my garage/studio.
I had forgotten to warn him about Thursday street cleaning, and when I went
outside I noticed a parking ticket on his windshield. I felt awful- I was only
paying $4 an hour, so the ticket would be about as much as he was getting for
the day. As I contemplated this, my hand throbbed with pain. I resolved to
offer to pay half of his ticket (it was half my fault, I supposed). As soon as
I told him about his ticket and made my offer, my hand felt great, better than
usual in fact.
I continued to wrestle with
this affliction through the remainder of ’93. I finished off “The Mark” project
in December, and low on funds (comic work tended to pay about 1/3 what I could
make doing animation storyboards) I started shaking the tree to find another
animation gig. It sounds weird, but basically I decided I was sick and tired of
being injured, that I was healed, and stopped seeing the chiropractors,
masseuses, bio-feedback trainers, acupuncturists and Feldenkrais practitioners
that were eating up my money and free time. It was several years before I had
another relapse.
This is page #8 from Dark Horse
Comics #15, “The Mark: What Goes Around”, written by Mike Barr, drawn by Brad
Rader, published in December, 1993.
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